What are some cool holiday gifts for techies? | Hacker News Reader

What are some cool holiday gifts for techies?

44 pointscgranier45 comments

What are some things you'd like to get this holiday season? What are you getting for the techie/nerdy/hn people in your life?

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YubiKeys! https://www.yubico.com/ a tool to increase your security. But can be expensive.

His/her favourite programming language or tool as a mug/sticker/tshirt on redbubble.com

Some cool mug that automatically warms up or stirs with a button. Because techies need coffee.

Laptop webcam blocker sticker/shuffle to keep ur privacy.

LED stuff. Like a led strip or something because cool lights are nice.

Smarthome stuff like a smart plug! It shows power usage of devices and u can program it using automations with homeassistant https://www.tp-link.com/en/home-networking/smart-plug/hs110/ - cool to automate ur home with it.

+1 for the YubiKeys. Can't really have too many.

Librem Key is a FLOSS alternative: https://puri.sm/products/librem-key.

Happy with solo keys (also open source and hackable)

doesn't support FIDO/U2F though?

Don't mean to be flippant, but maybe something completely unrelated to tech? I find that when I disconnect/disengage from my tech, I come back refreshed and enthusiastic.

Anyway, I would recommend a small toolkit (or a big one) 'cause you never know when you need to wrench on something and/or a small headlamp since it getting dark early.

Happy holidays.

Totally valid. It doesn't have to be tech-oriented, but something a tech-oriented person would enjoy. I found some cool camping gear as well as [tools](https://www.amazon.com/GearWrench-85035-35-MicroDriver-Set/d...) for my vehicle.

Or this cauterizer for tying better flies: https://olefloridaflyshop.com/shop/tying-tools/misc-tying-to...

Totally valid. Don’t buy a keyboard for someone who likes keyboards unless you REALLY know what they want. Don’t buy technology for a technologist unless you really get where they are and want to be next.

I agree on non tech things. I really enjoy the physical hobbies that need focus but not thought. Tasks my body can just do with finger knowledge. (Making ammo for example requires total focus but no decision making)

Tools: I recently encountered a really nice 1/4” mini driver from Felo. Someone should make a novelty gift socket set containing only 10mm sockets.

Gearwrench wrenches are very nice, flexhead if you’re feeling flush (make sure you know if your geek needs metric or imperial)

Ditto on the toolkit recommendation. There are some good sets out there but you could also go the DIY route and assemble one if the recipient has a niche they typically work on. Walmart's HyperTough brand tools are cheap and works well for the price, but the selection of electrical tools and supplies at Harbor Freight are immense if the giftee does a lot of soldering/wiring/etc.

You could always hit the nerd/marvel demographic and get them the Thor's Hammer toolkit: https://www.dudeiwantthat.com/household/tools/marvel-thor-ha...

For those working from couch: A warm comforter and beanie to keep warm and utility bills low and a nice large cutting board to keep the laptop away from the comforter.

For those working from desk:

Warm fleece, slippers, beanie to stay warm and keep the utility bills low.

Curved monitor

A posture straightening contraption (like a bra, but I don't know what it is called).

1 year membership to a cool nearby yoga studio / gym.

Can't go wrong with a good cutting board!

for folks with somewhat old windows with poor insulation I found 3M film helped to greatly improve insulation and save a ton on heating bills (https://www.amazon.com/3M-Indoor-Window-Insulator-5-Window/d...)

I saw this toy in the bookstore this weekend and thought it looked like it had a LOT of potential (pun intended). It's called "Klutz Circuit Clay", and consists of two types of mold-able putty: conductive and insulating. A revolution over the "50-in-1 Electronic Playground" sets of yore.

Plus the tagline is great: "No Soldering Required" ;)

That sounds like a ton of fun (until someone invariably mixes all the putties, ha ha)

Tools for self-massage! Personal favorites are the Theracane and a simple lacrosse ball (avoid those inflated spiky plastic balls). I find it very nice to have one of them around on the couch or in the car and its amazing how many RSI and pain issues generally (especially from computer use!) can be resolved with a little self care.

Check out a percussion massager like Theragun.

A Rubik's cube. I would recommend MoYu's RS3M 2020 or the 2021 model. Great budget 3x3. I recommend getting the magnet upgrade kit (extra magnets that you drop in with the originals) that speedcubeshop sells for it to increase the strength, and lunar and/or stardust lube, but those are optional.

A split mechanical keyboard

E.g. any of https://gist.github.com/itod/ae27b30f7517dc18b8df110c1d98bcc...

But also a nonsplit mechanical (happy) hacking keyboard or a chording or one handed keyboard like the twiddler

As someone who has and loves to use a split mechanical keyboard (Ergodox-like), I'd argue against this, unless you already know the recipient wants one. Most importantly, it took me several hours over a couple weeks to get up to a reasonable speed, so if they aren't already dedicated to using a split keyboard, they may give up using it after a little bit. (Granted, my regular typing style is nothing like standard home-row typing; it may be way easier to adjust for a person already used to typing "correctly".) In addition, watch out for stuff like switch preferences. Like another commenter said, don't get a keyboard for a keyboard enthusiast, unless you know exactly what they want. To be fair, this doesn't apply to most people, as most probably wouldn't care too much, but it's something else to watch out for.

I love my split keyboard, and if you know a person will use it, it's a fantastic gift. But, just make sure it's something they actually will use, or else you're spending potentially hundreds of dollars on something that won't get use.

https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/v12/

Some of these are not only really cool, but quite useful as well. Thanks!

I liked the random number generator as a gift. Another way of giving something random...

I'm thinking of a triple Pi-4B 2GB to setup a cluster so that could be a gift idea for younger people (or middle-age branch out techies like me).

I was looking at a Pi as well. There's so many models now, it's hard to keep up, though.

Yeah. I'll probably stick to the lower end of the most recent models. I'm building a cluster just for study (spark and kubernetes) so no reason to pick models with 4gb or 8gb. Though one higher end may serve as the master. I have not decided yet.

Even the new Pi Zero 2 W is not bad to begin with.

If you go to 8gb you have to shift to a 64bit operating system right? And isn’t there a memory efficiency cost of shifting to 64bit? Intuitively it would make sense if things were not 64bit optimized but still had to allocate 64bit chunks you’d be incurring some amount of unnecessary memory bloat.

I don’t have this info ready in my head but I think I’ve seen analysis of it previously.

The thing is I don't know what I'm going to do with my cluster...I'll probably just practice K8S on top of it. On the other side I can still install 64bit on the 2GB/4GB variation right? Just hope I didn't get the wrong pic :/

The pi 4 is awesome. I use it as a WireGuard server and a bench computer. I use the zero w as a pihole.

I got a Pi as a gift once, it was neat but I didn't really know what to do with it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20264911

I like the idea of getting people a pihole set. Pi zero. W with case and heat sync. Low power headless power-supply. I run mine with a 500ma wall wart.

Pihole is a game changer. Giving you back control of your network by blocking ad networks and allowing blocking of networks and services that don’t operate in the user’s interests.

Something non-tech. The average person might be Android vs iPhone, but I have multiples of both. Plus game controllers, earphones, headphones, monitors, speakers, wearables, iot lightbulbs, you name it. It's easy to justify them as investments too and even get some from a job or client.

What I'd probably like is a camera or food processor.

Carbon monoxide keychain detector.

Ergonomic upgrades. Anything that will allow the person to work longer without injuries.

I'm not sure I'd appreciate that as a gift.

Perhaps something that got people away from work, like a fishing license or a park pass. Giving somebody a gift that "allows them to work longer" just seems to reinforce the idea that we are slaves.

A hardcopy of the book „Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy“ (or it‘s sequels)

Last year I gave my brother a electronic drum stick : https://www.senstroke.com/

What exactly is that? Can you play drums without owning drums? Are they any good? I’d love to play drums but there is no way in life that I can put them somewhere in my current flat.

They have to products. One is a sensor that you put on a drum stick and it allows you to tap just about anything and produce drum sounds. The other product is pads that you can hit with a regular drum sticks, so you need to get several pads to create a full set.

Both allow you to play about anywhere.

Kind of like what a synthesizer is to a piano.

https://onewheel.com/products/onewheel-gt

imho - the Tesla of skateboards

books on how to negotiate better

every techie guy likes apple products so gift an apple product.

raspberry pi

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